Two-year-old boy is officially the world's youngest genius
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At just two years and 182 days old - yes, the 182 is relevant - Joseph Harris-Birtill is the youngest-ever member of Mensa; the exclusive society for people with exceptionally high intelligence quotients.
Mensa, the world's largest and most recognized club for brainiacs, admits only those who score in the top 2% on standardized IQ tests — a threshold that starts at a score of 132.
'We hope that this accomplishment can give him a sense of pride when he is older – it's a very unusual accolade and the credit is all his!' mum Rose, who lives in the UK, told Guinness World Records.
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Joseph said his first words at seven months
GWR and Joseph's parents have chosen not to reveal the toddler's exact IQ.
However, they have shared that he's surpassed the record of the youngest-ever Mensa member, a title previously held by Isla McNabb, who was awarded the honor in 2023 when she was two years and 195 days old.
To qualify for membership, individuals must demonstrate exceptional cognitive abilities in various intellectual areas, including problem-solving, logic and language comprehension.
Joseph's mum said: 'It soon became clear that he was an exceptional little being — he first rolled over at five weeks, said his first word at seven months, and read his first book out loud from cover to cover at 1¾ years."
Joseph Harris-Birtill is a tiny genius. Image: Guinness World Records.
"Kind, loving, confident and curious"
'By 2¼ years old, he was reading out loud fluently for 10 minutes at a time, could count to 10 in five languages, and could count forwards and backwards to well over 100.'
Joseph's world record should come as no surprise. His parents are academic professionals, and were able to see early on that Joseph's abilities were unusual for his age.
Rose, an honorary senior lecturer at the University of London, and David, a senior lecturer at the University of St Andrews, reached out to Mensa to get support for their son whom they knew was extraordinarily gifted.
'He loves a challenge and is really exhilarated by complexity, whether learning chess or poring over new words and concepts that he hasn't come across before,' Rose shared.
Joseph's family is proud of more than just his intellect, too. His mum noted that :
'He is very kind and loving, confident and curious, and incredibly determined.
"It is a common misconception that everything is super easy for gifted children. But everyone needs appropriate stimulation and understanding throughout their lives, and highly able learners can sadly have their unique talents dimmed by the pressure to fit into environments that simply haven't been properly designed for them."
Originally published as Two-year-old boy is officially the world's youngest genius
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